Dance Hall In Arles, Night Cafe And Salmman Rushdie Poem by gershon hepner

Dance Hall in Arles and Night Café
reject and celebrate the dark,
while Starry Night
across the Rhone refutes the day,
supplying night with sap, the spark
of sidereal light.

The night café that starts my song
could have a table for ping-pong
today, where Salman Rushdie might
amuse himself throughout the night,
not with a billiard stick but bat
and ball. Vince never painted that.
My rhyme scheme and my meter having changed.
to make this point, may prove that I’m deranged,
as Vincent was. If I will dance with you,
will you in Starbucks tell me if that’s true?


The first part of this poem was Inspired by two Van Gogh paintings in an exhibition of Nighttime painting by Van Gogh at MoMa. Both were painted in 1888, the former a scene in a lively dance hall in Arles, the latter a lonely saloon whose centerpiece is a billiards table. The second part was inspired by an article in the NYT on Thanksgiving Day by Ravi Somaiaya, (“Back-and Forth Sport is Back Again”) describing the resurgence in popularity of ping-pong which is now being regularly played by celebrities like Salman rushdie and Susan Sarandon:

Soho House, in the meatpacking district, has a tournament every other month. On Gramercy Park, the 110-year-old National Arts Club, complete with wood paneling and portraits of esteemed members, like Dwight D. Eisenhower, now regularly echoes with the sound of the game. USA Table Tennis, the sport’s national organizing body in the United States, said it has had a steady increase in membership of just below 10 percent since 2006. There are 457 Yahoo groups related to the sport, including ones for collegiate players (almost 2,000 members,53 new ones in a recent week) and regional groups of about 500 members. Three filmmakers, Jonathan Bricklin, Bill Mack and Franck Raharinosy, have teamed with Andrew Gordon, a former investment banker, to open a 12,800-square-foot table tennis and social club on Park Avenue near Madison Square Park. The filmmakers became accidental promoters when they put a table in their loft office for their own amusement a couple of years ago. “People would come over all the time to play us, ” said Mr. Mack,35. “Our then-girlfriends got tired of it and made us limit it to one night.” That night became an unexpected hit, attracting the likes of Owen Wilson, Salman Rushdie,50 Cent, the Beastie Boys, Jimmy Buffett and as many attractive people as there were lightweight hollow balls. They decided to build on that success and convert a former Mattress King into a large club. Spin New York will open in March. “It’s the sport of the future, ” said Mr. Bricklin,31. “It’s so simple that there’s no barrier to entry. And it has a carnival game-esque mind trick that makes you think that you could win at any possible moment. On any given Sunday you could beat someone who is potentially much, much better than you. That element is very exciting and addictive.” Other theories on the appeal of the game, which started in England at the end of the 19th century as an after-dinner amusement, include its fast pace, the unique sounds of the game, its health benefits and, paradoxically, the fact that you can play while drinking or smoking. “The matches aren’t that long, so they get very emotional very fast and then they’re over, ” Ms. Sarandon said. “You can come and go as you please and still feel satisfied.” Even if you don’t want to play, you can read about the game in a new magazine called Celebrity Ping-Pong, in which famous people converse over a game. Plans for the second issue are said to include literary fans of the game, like Mr. Rushdie and Jonathan Safran Foer.


11/20/08,11/27/07